[Movie] "13 Going On 30" Review: From A Teen Wish to Adult Lessons

Last week was dramatic for me but one of the best part as regards to writing reviews of movies was, I got to download a lot of movies using free data that one of our service provider gifted users to celebrate their 25th year anniversary. I'm saying this to say a lot of my reviews are coming.

I downloaded over 30 movies and one series, which you will find out more about them one after the other. This movie is one of them, a movie I simply decided to download because of the title and year it was released. Then I saw that it has an actress I've seen and like her movies.

"13 Going On 30" is a 2004 movie in the genres of body swap, coming-of-age, teen fantasy, feel-good romance and comedy starring Jennifer Garner as Jenna Rink, Mark Ruffalo as Matt Flamhaff and Judy Greer as Lucy Wyman. The movie is 1hr 38mins and directed Gary Winick.

The story starts with 13 year old Jenna about to celebrate her 13th birthday, inviting the cool six girls in her school hoping she can be part of their group and be cool to by making them her friends. On her birthday, Jenna is seen putting in some tissues to make her breast look big as she waits for her invitees to come, Matty arrives with a gift.

Matty is her best friend who also have a crush on her but chooses to support her as she crushes on a cool guy in school. He gifts her what he made for her, a barbie house and opened a wish bag for her to make a wish then she goes to keep it in a storeroom when the friends arrive. The party begins and the friends doesn't seem nice.

While the party goes on, they make Jenna close her eyes and go into the storehouse for a hide and seek game and they left her to go their homes without letting her know. Matty finds her and she thinks he's her crush, she opens her eyes finally and got angry, locked herself back inside the storehouse crying and wishing she was 30.

Well, the sweet part of the story begins because she got her wish... 13 year old Jenna became 30 year old overnight and she finds herself in a hotel with a guy. Jenna is confused, still a baby girl and has to live as a 30 year old magazine editor at a big company. She meets older Matty who's no longer a friend and surprise she talks with him.

How the story goes when she became 30 is the most interesting, crazy, funny and unexpected part of the movie and I really love how predicable it was but still lovely to watch. I must commend Jennifer Garner for how well she played the role of Jenna, actually acting like a little girl (13) and not an adult as is expected when she turned 30.

I also like the chemistry between Jenna and Matty even when she is acting like a child in a 30 year old body. The "Thriller by Michael Jackson" song dance scene was so fun to watch, her interactions with girls her age (13) in her 30 year old body was crazy to watch too. Overall, it's really a feel-good movie for light entertainment.